LAVISH LOVE, SIGN OF REDEMPTIVE SERVANTHOOD

V/​ I will turn to you O God, 

R/​ to God who gives joy to my youth

V/​ Give me the Wisdom that sits by your throne; 

R/ that I may be counted among your children

Lord, in your all-providential plan, you have led me to this moment to rediscover me in your Word and Wisdom. Aid me to make this time of meditation and prayer enriching, transforming, and liberating for my well-being and others. Amen!

LAVISH LOVE, SIGN OF REDEMPTIVE SERVANTHOOD

By Dr. Susan Muto

HOLY MONDAY

Isaiah 42:1-7; Psalm 27(26): 1-3, 13-14; John 12:1-11

14th April 2025

Our first reading from Isaiah 42: 1-7 invites us to ponder the deepest meaning of servanthood and how it applies to our lives. The servant chosen by God to bring justice to the nations will do so, not in a bellicose manner, but by touching bruised reeds so tenderly that they do not break. This vision comes at a time when the people of Judah were in exile.

They were in desperate need of an enlightened servant of God to assure them that their prayers had been heard and their quest for justice was not in vain. In this servant song, we see prefigured the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The Spirit rests on him so that he does not faint or grow weary.

With the coming of the Lord and to the earth will come justice, peace, and mercy, as Psalm 27 assures us, of what there is to fear. The enemy stumbles and falls, but we remain steadfast in fidelity to divine providence, confident that lofty graces flow from ordinary tasks done with self-forgetful or lavish love. This secret was known by St. Therese of Lisieux, who saw Jesus himself acting within her and beckoning her to do all that he desired of her, moment by moment.

Sanctity for her is not dependent on exalted experiences or spectacular achievements, but on the integration of contemplation and action. She says that there is no need to fear, for the Lord knows we are too weak to walk alone. In the Gospel of John, we meet another remarkable woman and friend of Jesus, whom St. Therese would have understood perfectly, Mary of Bethany, along with her sister Martha and their brother Lazarus, are at dinner, at the risk of being misunderstood, which she was.

Mary spared nothing when it came to caring for her Lord. She anointed his feet with costly perfume and dried them with her hair. At the same gathering, the anti-servant posture of Judas revealed itself.

All he cared about was material wealth. The Master admonished him to leave Mary alone, since the poor will always be with us, and since what Mary did forecasted his burial. Binding these readings together are several threads essential to faith formation.

From the first reading, we learn to fashion our actions and behaviours in ways that align them with what it means to be faithful servants of the Lord. The psalm encourages us to remain stout-hearted in difficult times, relinquish fear, and place our trust in God. The Gospel of John invites us to venerate the Lord by offering him the gift of selfless service.

Mary’s act of love teaches us that our intimacy with Jesus must not be shy and withholding, but bold and courageous. Mary is a model disciple, willing to step outside the safety zone of pious decorum and follow the dictates of her heart. She teaches us that lavish love will always be a sign of servanthood, undeterred by what others may think of us when our soul, in the words of St. John of the Cross, is taken with love in his sayings of light and love; He prays, “You will not take from me, my God, what you once gave me in your only Son, Jesus Christ, in whom you gave me all I desire.”